American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Saving Lives at Birth: The Impact of Home Births on Infant Outcomes
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 7,
no. 3, July 2015
(pp. 28–50)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Many developed countries have recently experienced sharp increases in home birth rates. This paper investigates the impact of home births on the health of low-risk newborns using data from the Netherlands, the only developed country where home births are widespread. To account for endogeneity in location of birth, we exploit the exogenous variation in distance from a mother's residence to the closest hospital. We find that giving birth in a hospital leads to substantial reductions in newborn mortality. We provide suggestive evidence that proximity to medical technologies may be an important channel contributing to these health gains. (JEL I11, I12, J13, J16)Citation
Daysal, N. Meltem, Mircea Trandafir, and Reyn van Ewijk. 2015. "Saving Lives at Birth: The Impact of Home Births on Infant Outcomes." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7 (3): 28–50. DOI: 10.1257/app.20120359Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I11 Analysis of Health Care Markets
- I12 Health Behavior
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
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